Scott Coker: Media writers claiming that Showtime controls Strikeforce’s decision-making are putting out propaganda
By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2010
Jordan Breen, you are now officially Baghdad Bob according to Scott Coker.
From Josh Gross’ radio show on Tuesday:
JOSH GROSS: “How much of a learning curve was there for you? You’ve been around for a long time. You’ve promoted pretty much every kind of combat sport you can imagine, but how much of a learning curve was there in terms of the really big business of combat sports once you did that Showtime deal?”
SCOTT COKER: “You know, I’d say, we went from being a regional company to being a national brand I think in the last year and you know it’s only been, we’ve only had our first fight 14 months ago on Showtime and so in the last 14 months I think we’ve accomplished a lot of great things. One of the things I’m really proud of is you look at our roster now compared to 14 months ago you wouldn’t even recognize it and you know I’m thankful to Showtime and the fights that we do with CBS. But you know, with Showtime, which we’ve done, we’re doing 16 fights with them in a calendar year, you know, it’s really an executive over there and I know that you know he doesn’t like to mentioned all the time and but that’s Ken Hershman and you know who Ken is. But here’s a guy that has really said look we believe in Mixed Martial Arts, we’re going to back Mixed Martial Arts, and we’re going to back Strikeforce and I think what they’ve done is allowed us to you know have fight cards that are 4, 5 deep every time and so when it comes to our live events or [fans] watching on Showtime, you know they’re going to watch a big full fight card and not just you know before we used to have a great main event and then you know maybe a decent semi-main event and then it would just kind of drop off from there but now we’re able to tee it up much nicer for the fan watching at home on Showtime or the fight fans that’s coming to our live gate.”
JOSH GROSS: “Why do you think this narrative exists, I think it’s pretty prevalent on the blogs and a lot of the fan forums and some of the mainstream media as well, that Showtime is really running the ship or that Showtime’s leading the charge and sort of the decision making and that you know you guys are here, you’re sort of waiting for them to make the call. Why do you think that thinking is out there?”
SCOTT COKER: “Well, I mean, you know, it’s, I mean to me it’s just propaganda you know thrown out by somebody else, right? And you know to me if anybody knew anything about our business I mean you know Showtime’s in New York, we’re in California. You know, we’re operating on a much different you know they’re worried about television and believe me when they wake up every day they’re not thinking about just Strikeforce. I mean, they have boxing, they have that great Super 6 tournament. In fact I had a chance to watch over the weekend up in Oakland live, Andre Ward, fantastic fight. And then you know they have the Super Six tournament, they have their Inside NFL show, they have all their entertainment shows, all their movies, you know they have their NASCAR show that they just picked up and they have MMA as part of their you know program offering to their clientele but you know at the end of the day you know Ken Hershman is not waking up just thinking about Strikeforce or running Strikeforce. He’s way too busy, believe me, and if he was running Strikeforce then why am I working so hard?”
JOSH GROSS: “Right. Right. Does it feel negative or overly negative at times the coverage? Do you think guys get a fair shake?”
SCOTT COKER: “Well, I would say no and I’ll tell you what. Part of the frustration, you know, Josh, we’re talking about major mainstream you know media sites that you know they hear stories, they get a sound bite, and they run with it. You know they don’t call us to confirm whether it’s true or not. I mean they just run with it. As long as they get a bite from you know somebody then they’ll just run with it and so it’s you know it’s frustrating because you know if you’re you know BLOODYKNEES.COM or you know MYKNEESHURT.COM then I get it because it’s just fans or you know just people that are you know out there just trying to you know generate uh you know… generate not awareness just trying to generate gossip, right? And but if you’re a mainstream site, I mean I think you owe it to everybody to have a you know to do your due diligence and to find out what the real story is and if it’s not the real story it’s usually never like what you know they print on there but it’s still a little bit frustrating and you know but with saying that, you know the good news is look how much we’ve grown in the last 14 months and Josh, we really continue to grow because we have great fighters and we keep building this brand and keep building Showtime, Mixed Martial Arts on Showtime, and putting great fights and great cards out there, just like we are this Saturday night.”
JOSH GROSS: “It’s twice that you declined to say Dana White. Why are you treating him like Voldemort from Harry Potter, you can’t mention his name once. What’s the deal?”
SCOTT COKER: “It’s not even like that. It’s, you know, hey, you know what, they’re doing great things in Mixed Martial Arts, Josh, you know how I feel about those guys. You know, they run a great business, they’re doing their own thing and we’re doing our thing and so to me we’re going to keep doing our thing and really how I feel is you know when I wake up every morning I’m thinking about my staff and I’m thinking about the next fight, I’m thinking about the fighters, I’m thinking about the sponsorships you know that we’ve brought on, we’ve brought on a couple great new sponsors for this fight and you know we think about how to grow this business. I’m not thinking about engaging in any kind of silliness with any other league, I mean, to me there’s room for everybody and people should be happy we’re out there. I mean if we weren’t out there, Josh, how would you know how would it work if you’re you know a guy that you know doesn’t have some place to shop your wares sort of speak and level the playing field because you know now these fighters you know have more than one place they can go shop their abilities or their talents. You know like Dan Henderson. for instance, I mean if we weren’t here and there was only one place buying then you know then there’s not going to be maybe a you know situation where you might be able to maximize you know what you’re getting as far as your purse because there’s only one person buying but you know right now we have two people right now in the space and it’s good for the industry. It’s a balance. It’s healthy for everybody. It just means that the industry is healthy.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Scott Coker’s sales pitch for Fabricio Werdum’s chances against Fedor: “He’s big” and “you never know”
By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2010
One of the problems that Scott Coker has when he pushes a fight in the media is that he never articulates a definitive case for why you should watch a certain fight. He’s usually vague in his sales pitch and it’s mostly generalities. As you see in this passage from Josh Gross’ SI show this week, notice what happens when Josh puts Coker on the spot to try to sell the fight:
JOSH GROSS: “Why is this a fight that people should think that Fedor has a legitimate guy facing him and there’s a risk for him to lose here?”
SCOTT COKER: “You know, I’ll tell you, I mean Fedor looked great in November last year and he’s trains super hard and I heard he’s in really good shape. And Fabricio I know is in good shape… So, yeah, both are going in tip-top shape, ready to throw down, but you know I mean a lot of people underestimate Fabricio and you know you got a guy here who just beat Bigfoot Silva so, you know the size of Fedor is not going to be an issue to him because he’s already fought a guy much bigger, much heavier, and you know when he fought Fedor’s brother, he beat him. He’s beaten Alistair Overeem so whether it’s on the ground, standing-up, you know whether it’s you know the size, I mean he’s fought you know guys that have hosted a potential challenge in those different areas and he’s you know and he’s been victorious so you know can Fedor win? Sure. Can Fabricio Werdum win? I’ll tell you, you know what? A lot of people are underestimating his ability and he might you know it might be an upset that night.”
JOSH GROSS: “Are you sensing that line of thinking from most people? Are you having difficulty convincing your ticket holders or your fans or the media that this is a legit fight? Is that kind of the reaction you’re getting from people?”
SCOTT COKER: “Well I would say this, I would say you know a lot of people are coming because they want to see Fedor fight, they’re Fedor fans. My point is look, that’s great, and I love Fedor. I’ve followed his career for many years just as you have Josh. But, don’t forget about the other guy because this guy is going to bring it and he’s you know this is his Rocky moment, sort of speak, his you know his championship moment and I don’t think the limelight’s going to be any bigger for Fabricio in any fight he’s ever had and so you know this is his time to shine and he knows that it’s going to be all on the line this Saturday and he’s going to have to perform and if he does all I’m saying is it’s going to be a great fight.”
There are a few problems with the way this fight has been sold and part of the problem is that Coker doesn’t execute some of the big principles that UFC has used so well in marketing their bigger fights.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Yahoo’s Kevin Iole is not a fan of UFC using locker room bonuses
By Zach Arnold | June 24, 2010
The initial discussion (transcript included in this post) is about Shane Carwin and Steve Cofield driving home the point that perhaps the reason Carwin isn’t doing a lot of PR for this fight is because there isn’t a heavy financial incentive for him to do so. This was a segue into their discussion about ‘discretionary bonuses’ and how UFC’s bonus system is used for leverage.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The doctors who medically cleared Matt Hamill to fight while having a (labeled) staph infection
By Zach Arnold | June 23, 2010
Be prepared to devote at least 15-30 minutes to reading everything in this article to understand the full context of what is being presented here.
This past weekend on The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale that UFC presented on Spike TV from The Palms, Matt Hamill fought Keith Jardine in the co-main event of the show. Hamill noticeably had a mark on his lower back, which was reportedly determined to be a staph infection. (Read down below for comments from Matt Hamill’s camp this morning on this.)
If you have not read the background on this, please read these two articles first:
- Ben Fowlkes – TUF 11 Finale post-fight bonuses and press conference notes
- Michael David Smith – Commission doctors examined Matt Hamill, said staph was healing
In Ben’s article, Hamill is reported as saying that he would start taking antibiotics the day after his fight. As Eddie Goldman asked me, “Why do you need antibiotics if [the spot] is healed and not infected? And don’t you get antibiotics by prescription from one of the many doctors who cleared him?”
In the article written by MDS, Matt Hamill’s manager was quoted as saying that the Nevada State Athletic Commission was aware that Hamill had a staph infection and that he was cleared by a commission doctor to fight on Saturday night against Keith Jardine.
I contacted Duff Holmes, Matt Hamill’s manager, through Mohawk Valley MMA and received this response in regards to what the doctors examined:
“I’m not sure what the doctor’s name was. More than one looked at it and they all said it was in the healing phase and was hardened and safely under the skin. It was never diagnosed as Staph. That was an assumption made by Dr. Hamill. He has since started antibiotic therapy.”
According to Keith Kizer in an article at The Garv web site, he stated the following about the mark on Hamill’s back:
“It was hard, dry eschar. The NSAC doctor examined it and cleared Hamill. Doctors sometimes make mistakes but I know of no evidence that says she did so regarding Hamill. I stand by her.”
Mr. Kizer’s quote makes note that it was a female commission doctor who checked out Hamill’s mark. We will touch upon this later in the article.
To set up the story about Matt Hamill fighting with a staph infection in UFC last Saturday night, let’s take a look at this passage from Monday night’s Observer radio show between Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer:
BRYAN ALVAREZ (reading e-mail question): “HOW WAS MATT HAMILL ALLOWED TO FIGHT IN THE TUF FINALE WITH A STAPH INFECTION?”
DAVE MELTZER: “You know, I was going to try to find that out today and just, I was so busy with so many things that I did not find out. What I can say is that they examined him before the fight, they knew he had the infection and the doctor said that it was not contagious and that he had recovered enough from it, so they OK’d. I mean, that much I know. It wasn’t like with Diego Sanchez where he didn’t know until after the fight. He knew he had something wrong but he didn’t know and then after the fight he was examined and found out that he had staph infection. You know, I mean, Matt knew, he told them, they examined it, and they cleared him.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Is it odd that they would say that he’s all good to go and then later that night he said, well I’ve got to go in tomorrow for the antibiotics?”
DAVE MELTZER: “I know, I mean, I… It’s funny because you would think that you know he wouldn’t be cleared.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Didn’t they kick a guy off Ultimate Fighter because he had a staph infection?”
DAVE MELTZER: “He had some kind of infection but that was contagious. They had to. This one… they ruled it wasn’t contagious, that was part of the thing.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Hmmm. I’m no doctor, but…”
DAVE MELTZER: “Having a staph infection, shouldn’t that weaken you to a point where it’s… even though, he did end up winning the fight, so I guess maybe I’m wrong with this, but in theory most of the time I’ve seen guys fight with staph infections they fought like [expletive], most of the time. Now he didn’t, but… that alone would tell me that like he’s got a staph infection, I would certainly think that you know you should pull out of your fight, you know… But, I mean, it wasn’t as if you know like the doctors were so bad that they didn’t even see it, I mean they knew it, it was examined, and they cleared him, so that was all known ahead of time.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Perhaps we can get somebody who’s actually an doctor to answer if there’s such a thing as a non-contagious open staph infection.”
DAVE MELTZER: “And it closed.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “It closed, hmm.”
DAVE MELTZER: “Now, if it was open, I don’t think they would let him fight.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “OK, but isn’t there a strong possibility that it could be opened in a fight?”
DAVE MELTZER: “That is one of the questions that I need to ask and I don’t know. I was thinking the same thing. I mean, I’m surprised, I’m really surprised at the way that thing went down. I mean when I heard about it, it was like, wait a minute… you know, that doesn’t make any sense but the thing was it was closed and it wasn’t contagious and but even if it wasn’t it’s like you would think that he would be weakened, I mean you get an infection and you’re weakened, you shouldn’t you know you shouldn’t let a guy impaired fight. I mean, granted, he’s not drug-impaired, but he’s physically not at his best and isn’t that like… I, um… Yeah, I am… You know, it’s a very valid question and I need to find out more about that myself.”
As we have seen throughout the sports world, the issue of staph infections (including MRSA) is a very serious health and safety issue. There are different levels of infections, but it is especially notable to discuss the issue of staph infections in relation to the fight game. In an MMA fight, you have all sorts of factors at play in terms of the transmission of bodily fluids — blood, sweat, saliva. It is very easy to spread a staph infection around in a ring or a cage. In the case of Matt Hamill, he fought Keith Jardine and Jardine was a bloody mess during the fight. After their fight, Court McGee and Kris McCray fought in the same cage. Multiple people were exposed in the cage to an environment where Matt Hamill fought with a staph infection mark on his back.
This is the first half of the story that most of the media and the fans have focused on. What hasn’t been addressed is the medical history of the commission doctor in question who Keith Kizer noted as the one who inspected the mark on Matt Hamill’s back. That is the second half of the story that we will address here in this article.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 29 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
FIGHT! Magazine and MMAFighting.com (AOL) enter business partnership
By Zach Arnold | June 22, 2010
Here’s the initial press release. Here is more details about the deal from the latest edition of Pro MMA Radio:
LARRY PEPE: “Donovan, before I let you get out of here, I did have a press release here that Fight! struck a deal with AOL. Talk about that and what it’ll mean for Fight! Magazine and the company going forward. What’s that all about?”
DONOVAN CRAIG: “Well, one of the things, you know, we felt like with Fight! the magazine came out we really sort of raised the bar in terms of quality and what people expected from magazines in the Mixed Martial Arts space and when we started when we had some success with that we started branching out in other forms of media doing more and more things and we were looking around at places we thought we could do the same thing where we could move the bar and really make an impact, you know, both in terms of the business but also in terms of you know the quality, the content that was being brought to fans because we all really love the sport and we want to present it the best way possible. One of the places we saw that was in online video. We saw there was a lot of it on the web but there wasn’t a lot of it that was very good or well-produced, we didn’t think, so we over the last several months we’ve been building a very robust sort of production capability to produce really high quality innovative online videos from everything from lifestyle to interviews to you know training videos to you know event coverage, you name it. And we were distributing that to a series of partnerships with larger companies and the first one to be announced is with AOL which it will be through their MMAFighting.com which is their MMA version of Fanhouse which is AOL Sports franchise. It’s one of the biggest things on the web so, we’re extremely excited about it. It’s a huge deal and we think it’s going to help basically take what we’ve done with the magazine over the last three years and extend it out to another area.”
LARRY PEPE: “So, will the videos only be available at MMAFighting.com or will they be available at FightMagazine.com?”
DONOVAN CRAIG: “They’ll be available at FightMagazine.com as well so both of them will be released in a tandem at MMAFighting.com.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Talk Radio: Is Batista vs. a car mechanic more competitive than James Toney vs. Randy Couture?
By Zach Arnold | June 22, 2010
From Observer radio last night, I needed a laugh and this made me laugh.
DAVE MELTZER: “Injury prone, for sure.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Old.”
DAVE MELTZER: “Old.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “This is not Herschel Walker old, this is Dave Batista years-on-the-road old.”
DAVE MELTZER: “And here’s the other thing, too. Even though he’s not as old as Herschel Walker, he also’s been through you know what about 8 years of WWE?”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “The road’s owned him.”
DAVE MELTZER: “You know, that’s um, just between everything that you go through in WWE, that’s a tough haul. You know, I mean, he shouldn’t be fighting but they could find someone for him to beat him.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “They could find a stiff that he could beat.”
DAVE MELTZER: “They could find a car mechanic. He’s still a big, strong guy. I mean I remember when they had that fight with those kickboxers that started fighting the wrestlers and everything and you know and Dave you know granted he was twice the size of the guy but he neutralized some kickboxers you know in a bar fight pretty easily, so, you know, I mean…”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “He also got his ass kicked by Booker T.”
DAVE MELTZER: “True, but… looking at you know if I was going to look for someone to you know lose to him I would think that it would be someone far less athletic than Booker T.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Yeah.”
DAVE MELTZER: “I mean, you know, I’m not saying you know, again, not a professional, you know, you can’t have a professional fighter losing to him, but you can find a car mechanic pretty easily who would lose to him and they’ve done that in boxing all the time.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “All right, I guess so. I mean… I… I don’t know. Is a car mechanic really going to get licensed to fight Dave Batista at the same time?”
DAVE MELTZER: “Well, it’s a fair fight, two 0-0 guys.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “I guess. I guess.”
DAVE MELTZER: “I mean, hey, James Toney’s fighting Randy Couture, that’s a lot of worse.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Well, that’s true, that’s a… that is a far bigger mismatch than Dave vs. a car mechanic.”
DAVE MELTZER: “Yeah.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “I will say that.”
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Move over heart-ripping cage fighter, meet a new MMA fighter accused of murder
By Zach Arnold | June 22, 2010
This is currently the second most popular story on The Las Vegas Sun web site. MMA fighter accused in death of ex-UNLV football player at Luxor
The MMA fighter in question is Jason Sindelar, age 25, and he has one professional fight… just like the heart-ripping cage fighter currently on trial in Del Norte County (Crescent City), CA.
The Sun has posted a police report on the Luxor murder.
The Luxor is home to the new Bruce Buffer High Stakes Poker Lounge. Look at how easy it is to tie MMA into a story when there’s no real relation at all.
Related
- May 31, 2010 – About that “heart-ripping cage fighter story”…
- June 16, 2010 – An update on the media’s favorite ‘heart-ripping cage fighter’ Jarrod Wyatt
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Batista tells TMZ he has a deal with Strikeforce; Former WWE star Batista is hot on MMA and not-so-hot on professional wrestling
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2010
Update (6/21): He’s telling TMZ he reached a deal with Strikeforce and is lining up a first fight.
June 17th
From this morning’s Observer radio show on the Strikeforce show last night in Los Angeles. I’m writing this passage first because it’s the one that will garner most of the headline attention. (There’s another passage to come that’s far more important and interesting to me.)
DAVE MELTZER: “At the show tonight, I talked to Dave Batista and I… you know… he said that, you know, the reason he left (WWE) was because he was sick and tired of the direction of WWE. He said it was not the wrestling that he grew up liking. He was not enjoying wrestling and he just felt he needed to get out. He didn’t, um… he said that the wrestling of Steve Austin and The Rock and all that stuff that he really liked doesn’t exist there any more and he just felt that he needed to leave. I was surprised. I thought that you know he was going to say that ‘I wanted to be an actor’ and it wasn’t that. He said he wanted to go out. I asked him if he was interested in coming back like (Chris) Jericho did and his reaction was, ‘just don’t compare me to Jericho.’ And he didn’t give like he didn’t rule out coming back, but he sure didn’t act like he wanted to and I asked him like what he’s doing and he said ‘I’m unemployed and I’m working for work, that’s why I’m here in Los Angeles.’ So, he’s an unemployed wrestler looking for, him and Scott Hall. Looking for work, obviously looking for acting work and looking for, I mean, he talked to Scott Coker, you know, you can make of that what you will. You know I mean he was talking to Scott Coker and Scott came up to me and just goes, he goes, ‘you know we haven’t signed a deal yet, so don’t start saying that we have.’ So, um, I mean, I can’t imagine him doing MMA. The idea of it is… is ridiculous. Nevertheless, he was talking to people you know like he was intrigued and interested in doing it. I mean it was funny, he’s like, he said that he’s been a fan of MMA for 25 years, which is… amazing. You know, think about it. Since it didn’t exist in this country 25 years ago… …you know people were asking him MMA questions. He clearly is a big fan, you know a lot more than some people in wrestling who you know their fans, he’s at a different level, I mean when he was talking about his favorite fighters I mean he mentioned you know Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez, and Nick Diaz, which is not exactly you know that means he’s more of a fan than many. And you know people were asking him about you know, it was funny, they’re going you know like you know comparing and coming from and it’s so you know he was just like you know what I did in pro-wrestling has nothing to do with MMA. It was entertainment, this was sport, and he’s just putting over the MMA guys and you know not… I don’t know, I mean he was… he was more negative on pro-wrestling than I expected him to be, put it that way. A lot more, almost stunningly you know as far as I just wanted to get out there type of thing. Man, you know, I mean, my advice to him is he’s… he’s 41 years old or older and he was making you know $2 million a year or more in WWE and I would not give up these later prime years if that’s what they are you know because he ain’t going to be an MMA fighter and… you know, if he’s going to be an actor, he’s not going to be, you know what I mean? 15 years from now he may want those $4 million dollars from the next two years if he gives up these two years and then tries to go back in his mid-40s, but anyway that’s his thing. He’s also a lot smaller than he was as a pro-wrestler and he is training at the Affliction gym and you know he’s lost a lot of weight. I don’t know… I mean, you know obviously he’s a still good-sized guy but nothing, nothing close to the size that he used to be.”
BRYAN ALVAREZ: “Meaning 220 pounds?”
DAVE MELTZER: “I would think he’s bigger than 220, but I don’t think he’s 260. You know, he’s, you know, if I’m going to guess a weight, 255? I mean he was… you know, I would say every bit of 280, 285 when he was in wrestling and obviously he’d been you know way over you know way over 300 you know years back when he was a lot bigger.”
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, WWE, Zach Arnold | 34 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce issues release of curious Fedor interview
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2010
The first time I watched it, I felt like someone from an MMA message board was filming a video and was told, “Hey, mention Werdum randomly, but ask whatever you want.” I have no clue why this is the video released for promoting Saturday’s fight, but it is.
There’s not a lot of earth-shattering comments made in the interview (I transcribed what the translator said), but my big takeaway from this interview is not so much about Fedor as it is about the promotions who fall in love with him and push him hard. The promotions that push him never really push his individual fights so much as they glorify him. “Oh, Fedor, you’re a God, you’re the greatest fighter ever,” or “Fedor, what books do you like to read?” It’s always about him and not so much about the fights he’s involved in.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
West Virginia Law School presentation on MMA and potential for a fighter’s association or union
By Zach Arnold | June 21, 2010
Download the presentation in PDF format here (5 MB) (Rob Maysey)
The document is a couple of months old, but it’s definitely worth going out of your way to read (as opposed to not reading and replying immediately to this subject).
The presentation starts off with talking about Zuffa’s dominance (UFC & WEC) has essentially ‘distorted’ the marketplace and how the athletic commissions are behaving these days.
(This past weekend did inflict some damage on the perception of commissions. I’m a believer in good governance and having effective athletic commissions and right now neither is currently in play.)
The PDF goes over how much UFC makes live (for casino shows they do site fees), the PPV buy rate estimates, and how much fighters make as a % compared to what Zuffa generates in revenue. There’s no doubt that it costs more to pay real fighters as opposed to the amount WWE pays professional wrestlers, but WWE does pay royalty checks to wrestlers in certain areas that Zuffa does not. (Think: Video game.) One point brought up in the presentation is that boxing has a federal law requiring full compensation disclosure whereas with UFC that doesn’t exist (there’s shower room bonuses, etc.)
Several pages of the presentation focus on Big John McCarthy and the fallout he’s had since no longer working Zuffa events.
There is plenty of focus on the Association of Boxing Commissions and what ideas they have for getting involved in the MMA business as far as weight classes, judging, and recruiting people into the administrative side of athletic commissions.
Virtually identical to boxing counterpart with 2 key differences: It does not contain an equivalent “mixed martial artist’s bill of rights” that is part of the boxing counterpart; and It deletes out medical disclosures required by federal law in boxing. Despite not providing any of the protections provided by Federal law to boxing, the California State Athletic Commission Informs Fighters Federal Law Requires National ID Card.
There is a lot more to the presentation that, for the average fan or for someone who doesn’t follow the MMA business, is a real eye opener (including focus on Jeremy Lappen and how he managed to wiggle his way into a position of overseeing amateur MMA in the state, which is crazy.)
Go out of your way to skim through the presentation and take a look at the bigger picture of the industry.
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Scott Coker’s recent comments indicate Strikeforce has ideas but not necessarily the execution to implement them; Update: Kazuo Misaki takes Sengoku booking in August
By Zach Arnold | June 20, 2010
Update (6/20): Kazuo Misaki vs. Jorge Santiago in August. So much for him in the Middleweight tournament.
—
June 17th
I was watching a video interview Scott Coker did with Sherdog and when it comes to spinning something, he sometimes sounds like he’s the least convinced man in the room when making a pitch.
One of the curious things he said in the interview is that he was considering Feijao vs. King Mo for August for the 205-pound title. If you recall after the St. Louis event when Feijao won, Mr. Coker was on camera telling Ariel Helwani that Feijao would likely face Mike Kyle in a re-match. Now Feijao’s good enough a month later for a title shot?
Also up in the air is whether or not the August show will stay in Houston. The proposed building for the Houston show is the big-sized Toyota Center. If Strikeforce has to move that show to another city or another building, how are they going to gain traction in such a short time frame? Think about it this way — when UFC announced that ticket sales in Salt Lake City were in the crapper, they promptly booked a date in San Diego at the SD Sports Arena. Josh Gross can call the building a dump, but the building did host a WEC show with Urijah Faber and it did fairly well business-wise for Zuffa. Who do you have more confidence in as far as moving a show to a new city and new building and getting the job done — UFC or Showtime/Strikeforce? Obviously, UFC.
When the issue of Jake Shields came up, I don’t want to say Scott waved the white flag but… OK, he did. He said he gave some numbers to “the Dad” (Jake’s father who is his manager) and his Dad apparently feels he’s worth more and all Scott would say about describing the situation is that “it’s interesting.”
And then he promptly said that he was ready to do an 8-man Middleweight tournament. Scott got very excited about this prospect, which goes to show you what the odds of Shields staying are. He noted that Dan Henderson, Robbie Lawler, Jacare Souza, and Kazuo Misaki (of all people) would get invites. Also noted was the winner of the Scott Smith vs. Cung Le fight on June 26th in San Jose. Let’s think about this for a moment — Cung Le isn’t exactly a guy who appears to be wanting to fight full-time and that’s what an 8-man Middleweight tournament would require. So, he lost to Scott Smith late last year and now if he beats Scott Smith in the match it would be him and not Smith in this proposed tournament? Ridiculous. (You obviously have to throw Tim Kennedy in the Middleweight tournament mix.)
For the sake of argument, let’s say that Smith makes it and that Kennedy is in as well. Henderson, Lawler, Jacare, Misaki, Smith, Kennedy, and room for two more entries. Mr. Coker seemed pretty focused on Babalu fighting at 205 despite Babalu stating in a pre-match interview a month ago that he was going to make Middleweight. Guess plans cahnged there. Scott remained adamant that he wanted Babalu to face Mo, but there’s the issue of whether or not the California State Athletic Commission will medically suspend Babalu and if that suspension is long enough to prevent a match from happening in August. So, if Babalu isn’t in the tournament, you probably insert Matt Lindland in for a final slot.
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
CECIL PEOPLES CALLED JAMIE VARNER VS. KAMAL SHALORUS A DRAW!
By Zach Arnold | June 20, 2010
What!!!!
One judge – 29-27 Shalorus (WHO IS THIS JUDGE?)
Cameron Quwek was the judge who scored the bout 29-27 for Kamal Shalorus. Remember that name and add it to your judging turd list. — Jordan Breen
Second judge – 29-27 Varner
CECIL PEOPLES – 28-28 DRAW
For the record, I scored the fight this way: Varner 10-9 R1, Varner 10-8 R2, Varner R3 10-9 (30-26). Kenny Florian agreed with me.
The ultimate irony is that Shalorus didn’t rely on his wrestling but relied mostly on low and middle kicks and we know what judges think about kicks (“leg kicks don’t matter”).
If there had been no point deduction, Kamal Shalorus would have won the fight on the score cards.
That’s right, Cecil Peoples had Kamal Shalorus winning two rounds to one over Jamie Varner.
29-27 Shalorus? Buhahahaha. What a turd in the punch bowl of otherwise quality judging.
Also, 28-28 scorecard from Cecil Peoples must mean that he thinks leg kicks do count for something. But still. Just dreadful.
Another question: how doesn’t Shalorus lose a point for the third low blow? That would’ve given Varner a split decision. Absurd.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, WEC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
WEC 6/20 Rexall Place (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
By Zach Arnold | June 20, 2010
Dark matches
- Bantamweights: Renan Barao vs. Anthony Leone
- Bantamweights: Rafael Rebello vs. Chris Cariaso
- Featherweights: Raphael Assuncao vs. Diego Nunes
- Featherweights: Erik Koch vs. Bendy Casimir
- Bantamweights: Wagnney Fabiano vs. Frank Gomez
- Lightweights: Karen Darabedyan vs. Will Kerr
Television matches
- Bantamweights: Eddie Wineland vs. Will Campuzano
- Lightweights: Chris Horodecki vs. Ed Ratcliff
- Featherweights: Josh Grispi vs. LC Davis
- Featherweights: Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin
- Lightweights: Jamie Varner vs. Kamal Shalorus
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |